First US-Iran talks in months raise hopes for progress despite no concessions

UNITED NATIONS/DUBAI: The first shuttle talks between the United States and Iran in months raised hopes on Wednesday (Sep 23) that the adversaries could make progress towards ending the Middle East war, although neither side spelled out any change in its position.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner communicated through mediators on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, the first such contacts since an interim ceasefire agreement collapsed in July.

“Steve and Jared had a very productive meeting today with mediators of Iran,” US President Donald Trump said. “I think there’s a lot of momentum for them to make a deal. It’s what we’re hearing from everybody.”

Earlier, Trump had told the UN General Assembly in a speech that he had to decide whether to make a deal with Iran or “annihilate” it. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian was due to address the gathering on Wednesday.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said Tehran had engaged with the United States through a Qatari mediator in New York and conveyed conditions, including an end to the war on all fronts and a halt to US “acts of aggression”.

Some Iranian state media had earlier reported that Araqchi and Witkoff had met, but Iranian officials clarified to Reuters that it was not face-to-face. Araqchi met the prime minister of Qatar, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, one of the main mediators at previous talks.

The contacts offered the first diplomatic opening in months after negotiations broke down in July and fighting resumed across the region. Since then, the two sides have repeatedly exchanged fire, although Trump has stopped short of a full-scale resumption of US strikes after military commanders warned munitions stocks were running low.

IRAN HARDLINERS RESIST DIPLOMATIC MOVES

The diplomatic contact in New York caused backlash in Iranian media associated with hardliners.

An opinion piece run by the semi-official Tasnim news agency, associated with the Revolutionary Guards, said Araqchi was wrong to have contacts with Witkoff and Kushner, “a major gift to Trump”, as Iran had already conveyed its terms.

Iranian sources told Reuters the delegation had been ordered not to meet the Americans face-to-face by the Supreme National Security Council, a body that includes figures selected by Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, the supreme leader, who has yet to appear in public since replacing his father killed on the war’s first day.

One Iranian journalist covering the visit told Reuters that some hardliners viewed the trip to New York itself as an insult to the memory of the slain leader, Ali Khamenei.